MacSnake — and a note from the author about why it is free Runs here
1998 · Andreas Hommel · Mac OS 8 · SheepShaver (Power Macintosh 9500) · 800×600 at 8-bit colour
Guide updated September 2026
Snake. You steer, you get longer, you try not to hit yourself. MacSnake is a small, well-made version of it for the classic Macintosh, and the reason it is here rather than any of a hundred others is the note it shows you on first run.
Andreas Hommel wrote: "MacSnake 1.1 was Shareware, but I noticed it's kinda stupid to make a small game like this shareware because nobody is gonna pay for it anyway. I hope people like this game, if you do please let me know in some way." That is the licence, in the author's own words, inside the program.
Boots Mac OS 8.6 and opens MacSnake. The author's freeware note comes first; click OK and play.
Controls
| Arrow keys | Steer |
| Menus | Speed, board and options |
| Cmd-Q | Quit to the Finder |
The author declared it freeware in the program itself: MacSnake 1.1 was shareware and he changed his mind, saying so in the startup notice. No registration is asked for and none is owed — the clearest licence in this catalogue.
Archives
- Internet Archive — the Tucows Macintosh archive copy this was built from.
How it works & what to expect
| Machine | Power Macintosh 9500, 800×600 in colour |
|---|---|
| System | Mac OS 8.6, shared with every other title of this era |
| Emulator | SheepShaver, compiled to WebAssembly |
| Version | 1.7.1 |
| Saves | High scores persist inside the emulated Mac |
It is a snake game and makes no claim to be more. Five minutes at a time, a high-score table, and nothing to learn.
MacSnake does not carry its own operating system; Mac OS 8.6 comes from the shared image, so it starts much faster if you have opened another Mac OS 8 title here.
Why it is remembered
Mostly for the note. The startup dialog is a small, honest piece of writing about the economics of shareware, from someone who tried it and decided it was not worth asking. It is a better document of the era than most of the games around it.
It is a clean licence, which is rare here. Almost everything on this site rests on an abandonment argument or on the shareware distribution model. MacSnake rests on the author saying it is free. That is worth having in the catalogue for its own sake.
Small Macintosh freeware was an ecosystem. Info-Mac, the University of Michigan archive, the shareware CD-ROMs — hundreds of small games like this circulated, and almost none of them survive in a runnable state. This one does because Tucows' archive was kept.
Getting started
Click OK on the author's note — it is worth reading once — and steer with the arrow keys.
Take the corners wide. The usual way to lose a promising run is cutting back across your own tail in a space that looked bigger than it was.
Turn the speed up once the slow board stops being interesting. It is where the game actually lives.
Questions people ask
Is it really free?
Yes, and the author says so in the program. MacSnake started as shareware and he changed it to freeware, explaining why in the startup note.
Do I need to register it?
No. Nothing is asked for beyond the author's request that you let him know if you like it.
Do high scores persist?
Yes, inside the emulated Macintosh in your browser.
Why does it take a while to start?
It boots Mac OS 8.6 first. That image is shared with the other Mac OS 8 titles here.
Is it in colour?
Yes, 800×600 on an emulated Power Macintosh.
Who wrote it?
Andreas Hommel, in 1998.
